Fears that the jokes would fall victim to a “Serco-style” cleaning operation, as noted in part one of the cartoon trio, proved unfounded. Happily, this made a planned petition to the local council redundant.

Banx told us:

‘‘Let the council be warned: If they had whitewashed my triptych, I might have been forced to redo it in Whitstable, where the arty-farty Islington-on-Sea smart set appreciate a good urinal gag’’.

Procartoonists.org writer Royston Robertson will be giving a talk about cartoons on Bank Holiday Monday (26 August) at the Kings Theatre in Ramsgate, as part of the town’s Summer Squall arts festival. The talk begins at 11am and is completely free to attend. Royston will be showing a selection of his published cartoons and talking about the process behind producing a gag cartoon for publication. This will be his second talk for the festival, with his debut in 2010 having been very popular with the public.

Cootehill International Cartoon Festival takes place in County Cavan, Ireland, over the weekend of 14-15 September. The event will feature workshops, exhibitions and live drawing, and Hunt Emerson, Tim Leatherbarrow and Graeme Keyes are among the cartoonists taking part. Check the festival’s Facebook page for updates.

AFP.com talks to Kash, a political cartoonist who has made a career out of finding humour in the political and social troubles in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. Read the interview here. You can also see Kash draw and hear him talk about his work in this video.

Above: with the Duchamp in Herne Bay festivities now behind us, there’s just room for this cartoon by Kipper Williams – featuring the names of participating cartoonists, many of whom are among our membership. The original is hanging in a gallery space in the Kent seaside town, as part of an exhibition of art cartoons to tie in with the celebrations.

Alexander Matthews, a cartoonist for The Beano and member of Procartoonists.org, has started a campaign to improve the quality of children’s comics by making them more reliant on great content and less on cover-mounted freebies. He is suggesting a change to the way in which free gifts are treated under VAT rules, and is seeking support for the campaign – which he believes would benefit comic fans and cash-strapped parents alike. Read more on Alex’s blog.

Another PCO member, Tony Husband, has had cartoons about his father’s dementia tweeted to millions, courtesy of Stephen Fry. See the cartoons here, here and here. Fry also wrote the introduction for I Nearly Died Laughing, a collection of Tony’s gag cartoons that was published last year.

It was 30 years ago that Ralph Steadmancame to give a talk on cartoon drawing and political satire at The University of Kent.

At that time the British Cartoon Archive was still a fledgling. After the talk, Ralph gave a practical presentation on political caricatures by drawing members of the audience.

A young student Karol Steele was in the audience that day. She dearly wished to speak to Steadman but in spite of her friends’ encouragement, she hid in the back paralysed by most crippling shyness. She always regretted it bitterly.

And so passed 30 years and the much admired artist was due to pay a visit to Herne Bay during the Duchamp Festival. Karol was determined not to let the opportunity pass her for the second time!

When we spoke she reflected that “most of the truly embarrassing things that can happen to a person already have happened” to her so there was nothing left but to pluck up the courage and make amends for her shyness of her student days.

Having heard this story early in the day and realising we were both alumni of the same university, I was keen to help her and promised to look out for her and let her know when Ralph Steadman would arrive at the Bandstand. And so it came to pass that I was lucky enough to find her in the buzzing crowd and point her in the direction of the artist.

She found him a most generous and obliging man who listened to her story with avid interest and who, without hesitation, agreed to draw a picture for her.

“30 years of regret wiped out in 10 minutes!” said Karol clutching a splendid drawing of herself and her husband. Even the family dog was immortalised and included in the artwork.

Extracted from a drawing by Ralph Steadman for Karol Steele @ Procartoonists.org

I believe Karol got over her shyness. She will be starring in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury in September.

Ed adds: Thanks to Kasia for the news, the photograph and for a heart-warming story to end the week. Good luck to Karol for her upcoming show.

They came, they drew, and they even made the odd Marcel Duchamp-style “art statement” …

Glenn Marshall plays the thinker @Procartoonists.org

We hope you enjoy this small selection of photos from the Live Cartoonists in the Bandstand event, which was part of the Duchamp in Herne Bay festival that kicked off at the weekend.

Nathan Ariss, chairleg of Procartoonists.org, said: “Herne Bay hasn’t seen anything like it. Just like our ‘stand-up’ relations, over 20 of the nation’s best ‘sit-down’ comedians set about wowing the expectant crowds, in an spectacular tour de force of gags, graffitti, political statement, absurdist fantasy and rampant public engagement. We really couldn’t have achieved a thing without the superb collective spirit and enthusiasm shown. Bravo!”

A nod to Banksy. Some "vandalism" by Banx @Procartoonists.org

Of course, the beautiful weather was as much of a draw as the cartoons! @Procartoonists.org

The heat was no reason to lower sartorial standards for the dapper Andrew Birch @Procartoonists.org

Surrealist caricatures @Procartoonists.org

Duchamp and satire by Dave Brown @Procartoonists.org

The kids fill the big canvas @Procartoonists.org

One for the album: It's Ralph Steadman @Procartoonists.org

Collaborative cartooning @Procartoonists.org

The public are happy so it must be time for a drink ... @Procartoonists.org

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Disclaimer: Any opinion expressed here is that of the named individual and not that of the UK Professional Cartoonists' Organisation unless explicitly stated. Artwork attributed to a named author or publication on this diary should be noted by anyone linking to us from any other site. Thank you. If you wish to reproduce an image please contact the artist from here.